Education

[dominie]

I have just finished a days supply teaching in a Scottish school and was a Headteacher for 20 years in secondary.......what has changed, every young person is permantly wired to their mobile phone and parents defend their kids to the hilt, right or wrong, some nice kids still out there but others with labels ADHD and so on......remedial or slow are banned words, rant over, any comments?

[ummmm]

Naomi - because you responded..

//I have never backed my kids up against the school. //

//I've never had any issues to back up - or not.//

Not all bad behaviour in children is due to bad parenting. There could be something going on completely out of their control and they are just dealing with it badly.

[Copacetic]

When I was at school years ago, whether you passed or failed the teachers could not give a monkeys. The same went for kids with obvious learning difficulties. schools in the respect of pastoral care and disability awareness are better now.

As for mobile phones and technology, you would be hard pressed to find an adult who does not indulge in this hobby in one form or another.

[Mosaic]

Big sympathy Dominie - both for your supply experience and for the silly bees who want to divert good discussion to assuage their own degree of autism.
You and I have lived through a time of massive change in schools and in society. The biggest difference is in the end goal ie jobs. The ultimate carrot n stick used to be a promise of a good 'character' and a start at a local firm. All this talk about whacking kids is from people who never had the job to do - we both know that's not a solution.
Remedial became Special Needs which became depended on having a formal 'statement of learning and behavioural difficulty' ie the kid is 'statemented'.
The litigious society we live in also contributes. It goes - he can't (listen, behave, follow instruction etc) because he's statemented - you're picking on him because he's statemented - speak to my lawyer.
In addition many families find it easier to indulge their children with phones than to enforce standards of behaviour. You will now encounter many, many children and teens who have never been gainsaid on any issue.
Not a class thing - apparently a temporary teacher at Princess Di's alma mater discovered most of her class could not be required to read, write or pay attention.
So don't beat youreself up Dominie - we had a good living from this nonsense, let's do something we enjoy now.

[naomi24]

Ummmm, I didn't mention bad parenting.

[ummmm]

Do people actually notice the good kids?

I live very close to a boys school so often the corner shop is filled with teenage boys buying their junk food (I am actually shocked at how much rubbish they eat) but not once have I encountered any type of rudeness. Perfect manners.

[ummmm]

No, you didn't, Naomi, you insinuated.

[naomi24]

No I didn't. I said I have never had any issues to back up - or not. I haven't. Do you want me to pretend I have?

[ummmm]

Why quote me then?

[Mosaic]

Now then girls...back to your corners....
Umm's query about good kids is spot on. If you are neither badly behaved nor in need of support, nor one of the few high-flyers, you will be overlooked in the state system as it stands. There are no rewards for just be good enough at being good enough....in fact a few years back I was delighted to leave a local authority that had set up a website for itself called 'satisfactoryisnotgoodenough.co.uk'. Bad web design aside, the sentiment is unsupportable and unhealthy.

[naomi24]

I didn't realise I had quoted you, Ummmm. Blimey, eggshells or what?!

[jim360]

In my experience High School education mostly sucks. There are some great teachers and some great students, but it seems rare that these ever match up particularly well. Periodic random changes by governments determined to look like they're doing something probably don't help either. It ends up just letting the children down, badly, and it shows later on.

[Mosaic]

Amen, Jim